18 floors down
by SolitaryGuide
Summary: Modern!Au / AgedUp! Au Quick KageHina interactions from Yachi's perspective Otherwise known as "Yachi did nothing to deserve this" also hints of KiyoYachi


Yachi thinks that she's a good person.

She always gets to work on time, she always drives carefully, she always says hello to the gardener outside the building. She leaves food out for the stray cat that visits occasionally, she doesn't play her music too loud, she always says please and thank you.

So when she was in the elevator, leaving her apartment, and another man steps in, looking like he wants to kill someone, she thinks to herself, _what did I do to deserve this?_

She gulps as he strode in, wearing an impressive scowl. Trying to discreetly edge away from him and put more distance between them, she notices him viciously stab the button with his index finger to close the elevator doors. His whole aura radiates discontentment and he slips a hand into his suit, the gesture reminding her of those old mobster movies she used to watch and oh my god was he taking out a gun? Was Yachi going to be killed right then and there? But as Yachi watches him with eyes the size of platters, the man withdraws a cell phone, not a gun, from the inside of his jacket. He flips it up aggressively and quickly calls someone, his scowl deepening as he waits for the other person to pick up.

There were only 17 more floors to go, she consoles herself. 17 floors. Yachi was regretting living so high up right now.

A floor goes by. 16 floors.

The person the man was calling picks up. "Tobio-chan?" A teasing male voice answers, sickly sweet. The man's face is even more murderous as he manages to growl out stiffly with minimal hints of underlying rage, "Oikawa-san. I may be late today for work."

An edge creeps into the voice on the other end of the phone. "Late? Is there something wrong, Tobio-chan?"

15 floors left. Yachi can do this. She tries her best not to eavesdrop on the man's conversation, but he's right there. She hopes he doesn't kill her or anything. 15 floors.

"I'm just running a little late. I'm sorry."

"Hmm," the other man purrs. "We wouldn't want your boss to hear that you're late on your _second_ day, rig- Ack!" The velvety voice is cut off as a faint voice says, "Stop harassing people, Trashykawa! Especially your juniors." The call ends and the man, Tobio, stares at his phone with thinly veiled hate. Yachi tries to edge away even more in case he notices her eavesdropping.

On the 14th floor, the doors ping open. There's an empty hallway on the other side of them, so the man lets out a growl and looks like he's taking his anger out on the poor button that closes the elevator. "Come on."

A head of bright orange hair comes speeding around the corner and _it's coming straight at them._

The man says "Shit." and starts pressing the button with even more fervency.

Yachi watches as the doors inch closer and closer and as the orange hair man gets closer and closer. With one final effort, the smaller man puts on a burst of speed and manages to jump through the doors with a triumphant, "HA!" Yachi jumps at the sudden arrival of the new person. His hair is a bit messy from the sprint to make it to the elevator, and his casual appearance makes him seem like a more energetic, exuberant person than the other man in the elevator. He adjusted his bag on his shoulder before pointing a finger directly at the black haired man.

"You!" He shouts, as if the person he was addressing wasn't 3 feet away from him in the same elevator.

Yachi is afraid the man is going to bite off the finger being pointed accusatorially at him by the shorter man.

"You tried to close the elevator on me!"

"Well, it looked like there was no one there!

"I was there! I was just running late!"

"I couldn't see you, dumbass!"

13 more floors.

"Why couldn't you just wait like a normal person?!"

"I'm going to be late for work!"

"Oh yeah? How about-" The shorty reaches over and with a deliberate hand, mushes all the buttons for all the remaining floors. "Now?" He finishes, triumphant. Yachi and the other man stare at the now-glowing buttons in shock.

"What the hell, you asshole! Now I'm going to be even more late!"  
"Serves you right! For trying to close the doors on me!"

The doors ping open and the black haired man furiously slammed the close door button so hard Yachi was afraid the button would break. Or the man's hand.

The doors close. Tobio looks like he wants to burn a hole in the wall in front of him with his eyes.

There's silence in the elevator as the orange haired man still has a grin on his face from annoying the other man.

The doors open. It's the 12th floor. With just as much venom as before, the poor button is pounded and the doors close with a delayed reaction.

The air is very, very thick. If she wanted, she could probably cut it with a knife and spread it on the sandwich in her bag in place of mayonnaise, which she ran out of this morning. The tension is palpable between the two men standing near the front of the elevator, Yachi huddling near the back and generally trying to become one with the elevator wall.

The shorter man's jaunty grin is slipping away as his posture changes from triumphant to slightly impatient.

11th floor. The doors open and the button was instantly hit. Were the doors always this slow?

The orange haired man began tapping his foot, causing the taller man to snap at him, "Stop that!"

"But I'm bored!"

"You were the one who did this in the first place!"

"Yeah? Well- well" The orange haired man sounded like he'd run out of fuel, and just turned his back to the other man, pouting. He crossed his arms before saying, "You s-started it." It's the voice of a petulant child if Yachi's ever heard one. The words just float in the air.

The doors ping open. Yachi considered making a run for it. She watches with solemn eyes as the last inches of freedom slip close and the elevator continues moving.

The orange hair man is still pouting. Yachi starts to write her will in her head. She's certain she's going to die here, in this small, dingy elevator, trapped with two people who look like they want to kill each other.

Tap tap tap, goes the shorty's foot.

She would leave her favorite cat mug to her kind neighbors. Give all of her photos to her parents. Maybe give that keychain of a cherry blossom to her pretty co-worker, Kiyoko. Oh no, she was going to die without ever holding a proper conversation with Kiyoko.

The doors open, the button is hit, and the doors close again.

What was the last thing she had said to Kiyoko? It must have been yesterday, when Yachi almost bumped into Kiyoko again. 'Sorry' was going to be the last words she said to Kiyoko. All Kiyoko would remember her as would be a clumsy, absent minded girl who always seemed to bump into her.

Yachi lets out a whimper at that thought.

It's the 8th floor. There are only 7 more to go, she tells herself as the doors open and the hand that hits the button seems to have gotten weary. The doors close.

Maybe Kiyoko would be wearing that blue blouse, like she did last week. Kiyoko liked that blouse a lot. But Yachi accidently spilled her coffee on it last week.

What if that stain never came out? What if it remained stained with the memory of Yachi forever?

The 7th floor comes and goes. The shorter man presses the button instead of Tobio, who immediately jumps away from him, hissing. He hisses back, and says "You're too slow!"

They have a stare down all the way to the next floor. The shorter man hits the button again, just as the other man's hand is centimeters away.

What would she tell her mother and father? That their only child ended up dying in a freak elevator accident? She was supposed to call them every Tuesday night to tell them about her week. What if tomorrow they would be sitting by the phone, waiting for a call that wouldn't come?

The doors ding open. The taller man flashes out and hits the button before the other man, with a smirk on his face. The competitive fire grows in the others' eyes.

Who would feed the stray cat while she was gone?

The taller man hits the button before the other again and the shorter man stomps his foot. "I'm gonna beat you, grand king of the elevator!"

"What kind of name is that?" He demands, and Yachi wonders that too.

Eventually, Yachi manages to escape the elevator ride from hell unscathed when the elevator doors finally ping open for the ground floor and she walks away as quickly as she can without attracting odd looks from other people. She collapses at her desk that day, tired out before the day even started at work. She burrows her head in her arms and has her face down in her desk as Kiyoko passes by, looking at her with concern. Yachi takes a quick 5 minute nap and when she wakes, there's a fresh cup of coffee at her desk. There is no note. She gulps it down gratefully and it's just the way she likes it, with just the right amount of creamer and sugar. Yachi is too tired to notice.

The next day, Yachi steps into the elevator 15 minutes earlier than she usually does, trying to avoid the fiasco from yesterday.

But to no avail.

The black haired man steps in the elevator on the same floor as yesterday, nodding in greeting. It's an awkward kind of air that fills the elevator, but anything is better than yesterday.

"I'm gonna beat you! Today's the day!" The shorter man from yesterday says as he jumps into the elevator. Yachi looks at him in shock. Or maybe denial. Denial that this was happening, that the same thing from yesterday was replaying right before her eyes. Maybe she was still in bed, dreaming. Having a nightmare was more preferable than this. Maybe she should pinch herself?

The other man recoils at the sight of the other. "What are you doing here?"

Shorty puffs out his chest and repeats, "I'm gonna beat you!"

She pinches herself. It doesn't work.

It's been 3 years since the elevator fiasco and it has mostly slipped from Yachi's mind, although she started to take the stairs after that as part of her new 'exercise routine'. That only lasted 2 weeks. She wants to leave early so that she can buy a cake on the way to work. It's to celebrate one of her co-workers, Ennoshita, getting a well-earned promotion. She hums in the elevator, remember one of the songs her mother used to sing on sunny afternoons doing the dishes. The doors ding open on the way down, and a man steps in. It takes her a while to place the face, but Yachi remembers. How could she forget? It's the black haired man. He seems too engrossed in his phone to notice her though, she notes with relief.

A couple floors later, the orange haired man bounces in. "Hey Kageyamaaaa!" He says, and the voice is the same from the one that haunts her nightmares.

The other man pockets his phone and says gruffly, "Good morning to you too, idiot."

He smiles and pecks the taller man's cheek, chuckling. "You're still half asleep, aren't you?"

Yachi's sure that if her eyes open any wider, they'll fall out. What? Weren't they trying to kill each other last time? Yachi hoped that her memory wasn't already going bad, that she wasn't already forgetting things and that the next thing she would forget would be her girlfriend's name or something else important.

"Not everyone is a ball of energy in the morning like you."

The shorter man grins cheekily before slipping an arm into the other's. He rests his head against Tobio's shoulder, and Yachi finds her shoes very interesting, was that a scuff mark? She was getting the feeling the scene in front of her was a bit too personal for her to watch, which was a ridiculous notion considering she watched her manager flirt with the manager of another department almost every single day without fail. While that flirting was sickeningly cute ("Get a room!" Tanaka and Nishinoya would yell. "It's like watching our parents makeout!"), this was…different. There was still the same tenderness though, the comfortable air around them as they rode the elevator in silence.

The silence lasted the entire ride, and Yachi silently wished them luck as she left the elevator. They would need it.


End file.
